Pages tagged "oil sands"

Proponents of pipeline seem to be deliberately misleading the public and the media

Edmonton – Earlier today, TransCanada Pipelines officially filed an application with the National Energy Board (NEB) to build the much-discussed Energy East pipeline from Alberta to New Brunswick. In response, Gil McGowan, president of the Alberta Federation of Labour, released the following statement:

“If, as many of its proponents are saying today, the Energy East pipeline would really create a significant number of long-term refining jobs in New Brunswick and reduce the reliance of eastern Canada on foreign oil, we would enthusiastically support the project. But, the truth is, this pipeline will do nothing of the sort. A thorough analysis of the TransCanada application shows that Energy East won’t bring Alberta oil to eastern refineries – instead it will channel that oil right past Canadian refineries on the way to foreign markets.

The closest that Energy East will get to a Canadian refinery is the Irving Refinery in New Brunswick, but even there, oil transported on the pipeline will not go to the refinery itself; instead it will be delivered to a new oil export terminal being built by the Irvings next to the refinery. Even if Irving Oil wanted to take a portion of the oil out of the pipeline before loading it on ships for export, they couldn’t because the New Brunswick refinery is a ‘cracking refinery’, as opposed to a ‘coking refinery.’ That means that it couldn’t use the diluted bitumen coming down the pipeline as feedstock without investing literally billions of dollars in upgrades. To date, no such upgrades have been announced, so it’s clear that the vast majority of bitumen coming down the pipe will be destined for foreign, not domestic markets.

We raise these points in an effort to encourage the public and media to look more closely at the claims being made by proponents of the pipeline, including the Premiers of Alberta and New Brunswick. Despite all the rhetoric and the spin, it’s clear that Energy East is not a ‘nation building’ project. Instead, it is yet another in a long line of projects aimed to perpetuating the ‘rip-it-and-ship-it’ approach that has characterized Canada’s resource sector for too long. To put it another way, Energy East will only solidify our role as “hewers of wood, drawers of water…and diggers of bitumen.” When will our leaders start championing projects that actually keep good refining jobs in Canada, instead of exporting them to countries like the United States and China?”

Edmonton — A new, comprehensive report on the economics of upgrading and refining in Western Canada shows that an integrated upgrader-and-refinery plant would be highly profitable if it were built in Alberta today.

The report, entitled “Upgrading Our Future: The Economics of In-Province Upgrading,” was released on Monday, Oct. 6, at an event featuring Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan; representatives of two separate companies with proposals to build refineries in Ontario and BC; Ed Osterwald, an internationally recognized energy expert and senior partner with UK-based Competition Economists Group (CEG).

“Today, we’ve proven to Albertans that it makes economic sense to think like owners of the oil sands, and keep good jobs here,” McGowan said. ”Albertans should get the maximum value out of the resources they own. Doing so creates more jobs and wealth. It just makes sense for us as a province, and for us as a country.”

The report updates a 2006 study commissioned for the Government of Alberta’s Hydrocarbon Upgrading Task Force. [2006 HUTF study by David Netzer] By applying today’s costs and prices to the 2006 study, Ed Osterwald, an internationally recognized energy expert and senior partner with UK-based Competition Economists Group (CEG), who wrote the report jointly with fellow CEG partner Salman Nissan.

“There is an emerging consensus on the need to add value to our natural resources before they get shipped overseas,” McGowan said.

Among the participants in the release of the report was former federal international trade minister and former Alberta treasurer Stockwell Day, who has recently joined the advisory board of Pacific Future Energy, a BC-based company proposing a $10 billion oil sands refinery in northern British Columbia. Day will join the proceedings via teleconference.

“We support efforts like Pacific Future Energy, who are clearly looking to expand Canadian manufacturing and the good jobs that go with it,” McGowan said. ”Some might call it strange bedfellows, we call it a coalition of common sense. We’re delighted that there are leaders in the private sector committed to keeping good, long-term, middle-class, family-sustaining jobs in Canada.”

The report, entitled “Upgrading Our Future: The Economics of In-Province Upgrading,” was released on Monday, Oct. 6, at an event featuring Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan; representatives of two separate companies with proposals to build refineries in Ontario and BC; and the report’s author, Ed Osterwald, an internationally recognized energy expert and senior partner with UK-based Competition Economists Group (CEG).

Documents released by AFL show TFWs are being used to suppress wages in oil sands-related construction; some businesses fill more than half their jobs with TFWs

Edmonton – Internal government documents paint a clear picture of the negative consequences for working Albertans if Premier Jim Prentice is successful in convincing the federal government to re-open the TFW floodgates.

The documents, obtained by the Alberta Federation of Labour through federal access to information requests, show thousands of Alberta-based businesses have been disproportionately relying on Temporary Foreign Workers — many with workforces that are more than 50 per cent TFWs. They also show many Alberta businesses have been granted work permits that allow them to pay TFWs far below the rate offered to Canadians.

“Rather than working on the side of businesspeople who want to use TFWs to suppress wages and displace Canadians, the Premier should be taking the side of working Albertans who have bills to pay and kids to raise,” AFL president Gil McGowan said. “When it comes to making decisions about the future of the TFW program, he has to stop forming his opinions based exclusively on conversations he’s had with wealthy businessmen. Ordinary working people have a huge stake in all of this – their interests and their opinions cannot be ignored.”

The documents show that in 2013 there were 2,578 businesses nationwide whose workforces were more than 30 per cent TFWs – the majority of which were in Alberta. In the same year, 1,123 businesses had workforces that were more than 50 per cent TFWs. Again, the majority of these were in Alberta.

“There are a lot of fast food franchises on this list, but there are also a lot of big names in industries like construction and energy,” McGowan said. “Albertans deserve to know why the federal government thinks it’s okay for companies like Kiewet, Stuart Olson, Lafarge and Ensign Drilling to fill more than 30 per cent of their jobs with TFWs. And I think Canadians in places like Ontario and Quebec deserve to why the federal government is letting companies like Facebook, Amazon, PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Infosys fill more than 50 per cent of their jobs with TFWs.”

McGowan says the list also raises serious concerns about the role being played by foreign state-owned corporations in the oil sands. More than half of the workers employed in Alberta by companies like Sinopec (a state-owned oil corporation from China) and Samjin (a subsidiary of Korea’s national oil company) are TFWs.

In addition to the list of businesses that use TFWs to fill more than 30 and 50 per cent of their jobs, the AFL also released documents showing that many construction companies in Alberta have been using TFWs to suppress the wages of tradespeople.

“It’s bad enough when businesses in the fast food industry are allowed to use TFWs to suppress wages, but when you start seeing the same thing happening with welders, ironworkers and electricians it becomes clear that the situation has gotten completely out of hand. These are the kind of jobs that form the backbone of Alberta’s middle class. Attacks on these jobs simply cannot be tolerated,” McGowan said.

Over the last two years, many work permits have been granted that allowed construction companies in Alberta to hire Temporary Foreign Workers at wages below those paid to Canadians. In some cases, the approved wages have fallen dramatically below the prevailing wage rate.

“A company called Supreme International was given approval to pay 28 TFW welders $19.25 an hour, which is $10.75 below the prevailing wage for welders in Alberta, and only about half of what a Canadian welder makes in Fort McMurray. Kiewet Energy Construction was given TFW permits for 100 industrial electricians and 100 ironworkers without even disclosing how much those TFWs would be paid,” said McGowan. “In June, the federal government introduced changes that will make it harder for low-wage employers to get access to TFWs. That’s a step in the right direction. But what these documents show is that the problem is not solved; it’s just moving up the wage ladder.”

McGowan has sent a letter to Premier Prentice urging him not to give into pressure from self-interested business owners who want to maintain easy access to exploitable TFWs. In the letter, McGowan reminds Prentice that too many construction companies have used TFWs to suppress wages, displace Canadians and ignore their responsibility to train the next generation of home-grown apprentices.

EDMONTON – Worker safety is being put at risk by lack of oversight for a program that fast-tracked guest workers in Alberta’s oil patch.

As reported today by CBC news, workers at the Husky Sunrise project in the Alberta oil sands have come forward with accounts of significant safety violations and near misses caused by inexperienced and unqualified workers hired through the Alberta Pilot for Occupation-Specific Work Permits, a special fast-track stream of the Temporary Foreign Worker program.

“When it comes to the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, we've raised concerns about wage suppression, exploitation of foreign workers and the displacement of Canadians. But now it's becoming clear that the program also has serious implications for workplace safety," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said.

"What we’re seeing is that employers have been using the Alberta Occupation-Specific pilot program to hire unskilled workers to do skilled work in oil sands construction. Without the proper skills and training, these workers are putting themselves and others at risk of serious injury or even death."

Originally launched in June 2011, the Pilot allowed employers to hire unqualified workers from abroad for specific occupations without first demonstrating that efforts had been made to offer the jobs to qualified Canadians. Information on the Pilot is difficult to obtain, but based on what’s available, the Alberta Federation of Labour estimates that only 24 per cent of guest workers hired under the Occupation-Specific fast track are fully qualified as tradespeople.

“We fear that some of the guest workers given a work permit through the Pilot are unqualified as tradespeople and unfit to work on Alberta industrial construction sites because of their inability to effectively communicate with coworkers,” McGowan said in a letter asking the federal Auditor General to conduct a non-partisan review of the program. “Everybody wants to ensure that Canadian workplaces are safe workplaces. An audit of this program would help ensure that standards are maintained, and could prevent injuries and deaths.”

When it began, the Pilot was originally just for the steamfitter/pipefitter trade, but was expanded in September 2012 to include six additional occupations. On July 31 of this year, the Pilot was ended as part of the government’s changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, but work permits already granted under the program are still in place and an estimated 2,000 workers brought in through the pilot are still at Alberta worksites.

“When it comes to safety issues, the government shouldn’t just be waiting around for these work permits to expire,” McGowan said. “If there are workers on these sites who are not trained, and who pose a risk to their co-workers, the government needs to act.”

Unlike other Temporary Foreign Worker programs, the Alberta Pilot for Occupation-Specific Work Permits did not require employers to fill out Labour Market Impact Assessments – the documents that are supposed to ensure that there was an attempt to hire Canadians to do the work. Because of this lack of paperwork, it has been difficult until now for the public to obtain information about how the program is being misused.

TFWs will be moved to another project, but it remains unclear if fired Canadians will get their jobs back

Edmonton – The company involved in a TFW scandal on Imperial Oil's Kearle Lake site has admitted that it fired Canadian iron workers and replaced them with TFWs.

In a statement released to media this afternoon, the company, Pacer-Promec Joint Ventures, said it would move the TFWs to another site and commit to hiring Canadians – but stopped short of saying they would offer the jobs to the Canadians who had been fired in the first place.

"At first blush, this looked like a clear victory for the fired Canadians workers," Alberta Federation of Labour President Gil McGowan said. "But Pacer-Promec has not contacted the union or the fired workers with an offer to come back to work. Something still smells pretty fishy here."

On Tuesday, Feb. 4, 65 Canadian workers employed by Pacer-Promec Joint Ventures were given their pink slips, and they were replaced by Temporary Foreign Workers. When the firings came to light, the ensuing public outrage forced the government to announce an investigation. Late Friday afternoon, the company issued a press release that included an apology and a promise to hire Canadians.

"The news statement from the company is certainly a step in a more positive direction, but the story should not end here," McGowan said. "The Canadian workers have still not been offered their jobs back. And, even more importantly, this is not an isolated incident. This is not a case of a rogue employer breaking the rules. The real problem is with the rules themselves. Specifically, a new stream in the TFW program allows employers in Alberta's construction industry to hire TFWs without first looking for Canadians. As long as this new stream remains in place, Canadian tradespeople will continue to face the prospect of being replaced by or passed over for TFWs."

In October, more than 300 workers at Husky Energy's Sunrise Oilsands Project were let go. In some cases, they were forced to train the Temporary Foreign Workers who were replacing them. The Alberta Federation of Labour has been a leader in bringing abuses of this program to light.

"More and more Canadians are going public, and letting the country know the extent to which the Temporary Foreign Worker program is undermining job security, undermining wages, and exploiting disadvantaged workers," McGowan said.

Even with Pacer-Promec's promise to rehire Canadian workers, McGowan says many important questions remain.

"The company says they will move the TFWs to another work site. Will these TFWs fill jobs on that site that would have otherwise been available to Canadians? Will they still be paid half the wage of Canadian workers? Perhaps most importantly, will the companies involved face any consequences? Will they be fined? Will they lose their right to bring TFWs into the country? Canadians deserve answers to these questions?"

The Harper government has made such a mess of the TFW program that experts say a full investigation by an impartial third party is warranted.

"The Harper government created this monster, they can't be trusted to tame it," McGowan said. "Canadians deserve a royal commission on the economic, social and cultural impact of this program. It morally diminishes us as a country to have a program that creates a disenfranchised underclass of non-citizen workers."

Edmonton – The Alberta Federation of Labour President submitted final arguments to the National Energy Board in favour of the Enbridge Line 9 Project today.

AFL president Gil McGowan said he supports Line 9 because it keeps value-added jobs in Canada, and is good for the people of Alberta and the people of Quebec. Line 9 will expand and reverse the flow of Line 9 and 9B, connecting the Synthetic Crude Oil coming from Alberta's upgraders to refineries in Quebec.

"Line 9 connects Alberta's upgraders, and all the good-paying jobs that go with them, to refineries in Quebec, where thousands of good jobs are also at stake. It provides a market for synthetic crude, and keeps value-added jobs in both our provinces," McGowan said. "Line 9 allows Quebec refineries to stop importing higher-cost crude from Angola, Nigeria, and Algeria, and instead allows them to buy Alberta's upgraded products, which enhances Canadian energy security."

The AFL is a frequent intervener in National Energy Board pipeline proceedings. The Federation has intervened against Keystone, Keystone XL, Southern Lights, Alberta Clipper, and Northern Gateway, on the grounds that these pipelines ship raw bitumen, and therefore value-added jobs, down the pipeline to the United States or China. This is the first time the Federation has intervened in favour of a pipeline project at the National Energy Board.

The AFL represents 160,000 Alberta workers, including 25,000 in energy and energy-related construction.

Contact the AFL for a copy its Final Written Argument, filed on October 3.

Energy East no solution on its own, but creates opportunity for upgrading in Canada

EDMONTON - The Energy East pipeline is a two-edged sword warns the Alberta Federation of Labour.

Although the Energy East pipeline could help create good jobs in Canada, it will only do so if it is part of a national energy strategy that includes in-country upgrading and refining. Otherwise, it will only be the first leg of a journey that exports good-paying jobs to upgraders and refineries abroad.

"The Energy East pipeline has a capacity to ship 1.1 million barrels per day of raw bitumen," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said, noting that there are two Eastern Canadian refineries that might be able to work with raw bitumen, the one in Sarnia and the one in St. John, which would require improvements before taking the bitumen. "At best they could only have taken a fraction of what the Energy East pipeline will carry – and they're already near capacity. Unless there are more upgraders being built, this is going to be an export pipeline."

The Alberta Federation of Labour has consistently called for the creation of more upgraders in Alberta. According to the Government of Alberta's testimony at the Northern Gateway hearings, Alberta is expected to lose $8 billion/year in refining value as we ship bitumen overseas rather than upgrading it here.

Several times over the past decade, and under the leadership of three premiers, the Government of Alberta has promised to ensure at least 2/3 of Alberta's bitumen is upgraded in the province. At present, barely half of our bitumen is upgraded in-province, and the percentage is decreasing.

"This is the wrong infrastructure for Alberta because pipelines don't upgrade," McGowan said. "We need a strategy to ensure Albertans get the maximum value out of the resources they own. Doing so creates more jobs and wealth. We get more for synthetic crude. Synthetic crude is easier to transport. It just makes sense for us as a province, and for us as a country."

Almost immediately after the pipeline approval was announced, TransCanada and Irving Oil said they would build a $300 million export terminal in Saint John that would ship raw bitumen to world markets. Ironically, this export terminal will be immediately adjacent to the existing import terminal.

"We'll be shipping a low-cost commodity to the United States or China, and then we'll have to buy it back from them at a premium. When you fill up your car, 40 cents of every liter will be shipped to Liaoning or Mississippi," McGowan said. "The few jobs created by the pipeline and export terminal will be dwarfed by the long-term jobs in refineries and upgraders elsewhere."

URGENT ACTION

Free Workshop on Access to Information on Friday, June 28

The Alberta Federation of Labour will host a "Lunch and Learn" workshop covering the basics of Alberta's Freedom of Information legislation. This workshop, the first in a series, is an opportunity for our members, affiliates, and allies to learn about a subject that is of interest to the labour movement.

This workshop will cover the basics of FOIP in Alberta, including:

How to navigate the FOIP request system

Why sometimes it's important to get information the government would rather keep secret

Important Notice:

Due to flooding in Calgary, all protest events related to the federal Conservative Convention have been postponed until the convention can be rescheduled.

Boycott i-Hotel and Edmonton Hotel and Convention Centre in support of UFCW 401

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 401 started an organizing drive in March to unionize the i-Hotel in Red Deer, Alberta, which was formerly the Holiday Inn on 67th Street.During the process owner Amin Suleman was made aware of union activity and interfered with the organizing efforts of Local 401.3 members have been harassed, intimidated, and terminated for expressing their legal right to join a union. The ALRB issued a consent order that UFCW 401 supports and the employer refuses to honour.UFCW 401 needs your help. They are asking all labour organizations to help them in the fight against a ruthless employer. Please support UFCW 401 by boycotting this employer until an agreement can be reached between the union and employer. UFCW 401 does not want to cripple business and wants people to advise reservations why they are pulling their business. This employer operates two hotels in Alberta.i-Hotel at 6500 – 67 Street, Red Deer, ABEdmonton Hotel and Convention Centre at 4520 – 76th Avenue, Edmonton.Click here for letter from UFCW 401 to the AFL.For more information please contact Director of Organizing, Chris O'Halloran at cohalloran@ufcw401.ab.ca

Bill C-525: Another Conservative attempt to undermine unions

The Harper government is again turning to its backbenchers to make laws designed to weaken unions. Bill C-525, if passed, will interfere in labour relations and the established rights of workers to join and remain in a union.Currently, workers in federally regulated industries are recognized as a bargaining agent if they can show that they represent the majority of workers. Bill C-525 will require the union to prove that 50% of all employees – not just those that vote – want to remain in a union. If that doesn't happen, the unit will be decertified. This opens the door to all sorts of employer interference, such as anti-union propaganda and threats to shutdown workplaces, in efforts to suppress votes to get rid of unions.Bill C-525 will apply to federally regulated unions, but make no mistake that this is another Harper Conservative attempt to weaken unions. If this Bill passes, we'll likely see more brazen attacks. Together, we can send a message to Harper and stop Bill C-525.For a summary on Bill C-525 read the CUPE release and backgrounder.View Bill C-525. Please sign and promote the NDP petition

News

Supreme Court sides with workers right to privacy

On June 14, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that a mandatory random alcohol testing policy imposed by Irving Pulp and Paper at a Saint John, N.B., Kraft mill in 2006 was unreasonable.

The case, which stems from a grievance filed by Communications Energy and Paperworkers (CEP) Local 30 in New Brunswick, has implications to similar cases in Alberta's oil sands. The ruling is a major victory in the fight against random and arbitrary privacy violations through drug and alcohol testing.

"This decision is in line with years of jurisprudence, makes sense, and is in the interest of Canadians. Employers can't arbitrarily introduce a random drug or alcohol testing regime by declaring a workplace "dangerous" without proving that there's a problem," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. "There's a direct parallel between this case and what's happening at Suncor: there's no evidence that there's a problem and the employer can't simply impose their will on the worker and strip them of their privacy without proving there's one."

In 15 years before the policy was imposed, there were eight instances in which a worker was found to be under the influence of alcohol and none involved an accident or injury. During the 22 months the policy was in effect, no one tested positive.

"The expected safety gains to the employer in this case were found by the board to range 'from uncertain ... to minimal at best' while the impact on employee privacy was found to be much more severe," Justice Rosalie Abella wrote for the majority. For more information see June 14 release

AFL wraps up its case against job-sucking Northern Gateway pipeline

The Alberta Federation of Labour made its final arguments to the Northern Gateway Pipeline hearings on Tuesday, June 18 in Terrace, B.C. The Federation made the case that the Pipeline is not in the best interests of Canadians.

The pipeline, if approved, will ship some of our country's best potential jobs down the pipeline to China. In its presentation to the National Energy Board, the AFL showed that it makes economic sense to upgrade bitumen in Alberta – or at least in Canada – rather than exporting it raw to foreign markets.

"The proponents of this project have compared the pipeline to the CPR and called it an important piece of Canadian infrastructure. But the Northern Gateway Pipeline is a piece of Chinese infrastructure, not Canadian infrastructure," Alberta Federation of Labour president Gil McGowan said. "The ownership structure of the pipeline shows that the project will benefit China's state-owned oil companies, shipping good-paying oil sands jobs to Asia." For more information see June 17 release with links to a backgrounder andAFL final arguments

Did you know...

the Northern Gateway pipeline will create only 228 permanent jobs in Canada

During construction of the pipeline, the project will temporarily create 1,500 construction jobs

At least 26,000 Canadian jobs would be created if we upgraded/refined the bitumen destined for China here at home.